Now that the dust has settled on Apple’s surprise iPad mini 7 announcement, potential buyers have pored over the tablet’s spec sheet with a fine-tooth comb – and not all of the findings have been positive.
Yes, the iPad mini 7 is a healthy upgrade to Apple’s 8.3-inch tablet – and considering it’s been three years since the last version, that’s something to celebrate.
But in a few small ways, the mini 7 is also a somewhat lackluster update that shows Apple still isn’t committed to making a small tablet that can sit at the same table as its two larger models – the iPad Air 13-inch (2024). ) and iPad Pro 13-inch (2024).
So where exactly is the iPad mini 7 a little underpowered, and should you care about these features at all? Here are the top niggles, based on what we wanted to see when the rumors started growing earlier this year.
1. A downgraded A17 Pro chip
The iPad mini 7 is more powerful than the iPad mini (2021) thanks to the A17 Pro chip. That spec bump means that Apple’s mini tablet can now support Apple Intelligence – in fact, it’s now the cheapest way to get Apple’s AI-powered features.
But as noted by Wccftechthat A17 Pro chip is actually not identical to the one we saw in the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max last year. Like the iPad mini 7 official specifications page shows that the chip has a 5-core GPU instead of the 6-core chip of last year’s flagship phones.
This isn’t the first time this has happened; When the M2 iPad Air launched earlier this year, Apple later revealed that the tablet has a 9-core GPU instead of the 10-core that was originally advertised.
Whatever the reasons behind these chipset tweaks, it’s unlikely most of us will notice a performance difference – a bigger sore point for many is that the iPad mini 7 doesn’t get the latest A18 or A18 Pro chip for a better future-proofing. would also have led to a price increase.
Considering previous leaks had suggested that the iPad mini 7 would have a screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, it was a mild disappointment for many to discover that Apple’s new tablet still has a 60Hz screen.
This spec shows how many times your screen refreshes each second: a higher refresh rate means a smoother scrolling experience. Of course, Apple has a fancy name for its 120Hz display technology: ProMotion.
However, the base iPhone 16 and iPad Air M2 (2024) both also have 60Hz displays, so its absence on the iPad mini 7 isn’t necessarily a big deal. A bigger question might be whether Apple has fixed the ‘jelly scrolling’ issue some iPad mini (2021) found when scrolling in portrait orientation.
Apple said at the time that the problem was normal behavior for LCD screens, so we look forward to testing the new iPad mini 7 to see if any remains.
3. Touch ID instead of Face ID
Touch ID may be dying out on iPhones, but the iPad mini 7 continues to use the technology for security features like Apple Pay or logging in to apps. That’s because the new mini has an identical design to its predecessor, save for a few new colors.
With many hoping the mini 7 will get a Face ID upgrade – like the latest iPad Pro models – this could be considered a somewhat retro move. On the other hand, some iPad users have found that Face ID doesn’t work as well on Apple’s tablets as it does on the iPhone, so the continued reliance on a fingerprint scanner might even be considered a bonus for some.
4. No physical nano SIM card slot
If you prefer your iPads to have a cellular connection, you might be interested to know that – like this year’s iPad Air and iPad Pro – there is no physical SIM card slot in the iPad mini 7. Yes, it’s totally eSIM.
Is that a bad thing? Not for most people. Setting up eSIMs or transferring them to other devices shouldn’t be a complicated process, perhaps even faster than physical SIM cards.
But just that one option can cause problems if you want to move your SIM cards between devices regularly, as it may require you to contact your carrier – and as we all know, that process is never as simple as it should be.
5. No charger included (in EU)
The final potential problem with the iPad mini 7, as noted by MacRumorsis that Apple’s new tablet won’t come with a charging brick in the box in European countries, including the UK.
That’s not a huge surprise: the latest iPad Pro and Air models have also ditched the included charger in the region, as Apple likely looks ahead to new EU e-waste regulations due in 2026.
A small plus is that the USB-C charging cable that comes with the tablet is now braided to make it more durable and protect against cat-related incidents. If you live in the US or Australia, you can expect to get the usual 20W USB-C charging brick included.
iPad mini 7 – early thoughts
Most iPad mini 7 buyers won’t consider these details a big deal. While it would have been nice to get an A18 chip and a ProMotion display, that would also have raised the price tag above the tablet’s relatively affordable starting point of $499 / £499 / AU$799 (for 128 GB storage).
So while Apple hasn’t gone all out to create a premium mini tablet, it’s probably done enough for most fans of the tablet form factor, namely future-proofing it with a chip that supports Apple Intelligence, making it RAM memory and base capacity have been doubled. storage and adding support for the Apple Pencil Pro.
With some other minor quality-of-life improvements like a faster USB-C port and Wi-Fi 6E, the iPad mini 7 looks more than good enough to be a travel-friendly sidekick for creatives who like digital sketching or editing. photos. We’ll give you our full verdict soon once we put one to the test.